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How often do you run into people connected to people that you know or people that know these people and what size metro do you live in?
In my case, in Atlanta I sometimes run into people who know people that I know, it happens a good bit. My mother who is a “complete” born and raised New Yorker refers to Atlanta as small in social terms. That’s weird to me given how big of a transplant culture we have here.
At what point does this “oh I know him/her” become less of a thing in a city in your eyes?
How often do you run into people connected to people that you know or people that know these people and what size metro do you live in?
In my case, in Atlanta I sometimes run into people who know people that I know, it happens a good bit. My mother who is a “complete” born and raised New Yorker refers to Atlanta as small in social terms. That’s weird to me given how big of a transplant culture we have here.
At what point does this “oh I know him/her” become less of a thing in a city in your eyes?
Great poll question....from living in San Diego I’m going with 4 million +.
San Diego is 3.4 million metro and I still awkwardly run into work people around town.
I remember living in Columbus and trying to make it seem big yet running into the same people all the tine.
When I lived in Reno (metro ~450k) I didn't see people I knew that often outside social events. If I got far enough from downtown/Midtown I never saw them at all.
How often do you run into people connected to people that you know or people that know these people and what size metro do you live in?
In my case, in Atlanta I sometimes run into people who know people that I know, it happens a good bit. My mother who is a “complete” born and raised New Yorker refers to Atlanta as small in social terms. That’s weird to me given how big of a transplant culture we have here.
At what point does this “oh I know him/her” become less of a thing in a city in your eyes?
I live in a metro that has about 280 to 300 thousand all together and i run into people 4 to 5 times a week.I think i would need to live somewhere that had at least 1 million for anonymity.
I've seen anonymity in cities of 100-200k. It really depends on the culture of the area, if people tend to get out and rub shoulders a lot, or hide out at home. I.e. a tendency toward extroverted or introverted, etc.
Totally depends on your habits in a big city. If you know a lot of people and go to similar places you run into people you know frequently. Of course this happens much more in a very small place, but once you are in a pro sports size city, I think it just depends on your habits and social scene. And I've even randomly run into people I know walking around in NYC. I would just guess that living in a metro of under 1 million it has to happen very often. maybe a metro of over 2 million it happens less often, but still you will likely run into someone you know by random maybe every week or two.
And I think mathematically, you will encounter Kevin Bacon every 6 weeks or so.
In my metro of the “Triangle,” (i.e. Raleigh/Cary, Durham, Chapel Hill), which as a CSA is over 2 mil, I’ve seen a reasonable anonymity. Many of my work colleagues cluster in suburban communities near the Research Triangle Park, I live closer to downtown Raleigh, and only rarely run across them in my homelife, unless a random encounter at a major mall, or at a big regional event for kids.
DC feels like a small place. Everyone seems to run into people they know daily.
I think cities where you walk more you’re probably less likely to be anonymous. I think cities that arent complete walkable cities (where nearly all your activities are walkable. Groceries, shopping, DMV, etc and not just like.) or suburbs it’s probably very easy to be anonymous
I run into people I know all the time in Philadelphia. I've only lived here ~2.5 years. My guess is only NYC, Los Angeles and maybe Chicago feel this way.
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